The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-04-08
ABOUT DEER HUNTING.
TALK WITH A HUNTER WHO HAS
BEEN IN THE NORTHWEST.

Methods Employed by Hunters-KiIIing
RattIesnake-The Buck Fever"
Curious Traits of a Deer-Curiosity and
Sneaking PrOpensities.
A young western deer hunter, tall, broad
shouldered and muscular, just from the
forests of Michigan and Wisconsin, was met
at the Mansion house, Staten Island, by
reporter and asked for some particulars
about hunting the deer.
''There are nearly as many. deer as ever
in the woods of the northwest" he said,
land they are very wild. Shooting them is
the popular sport with u.s. and there are
many men who make living at it. The
weight of the deer killed out there runs from
$50 to 300 pounds The way we hunt them
is this: They have what we call runways-
that is, well defined paths leading from their
different grazing grounds to creek or river.
We find these runways and station ourselves
in the woods adjoining. A maa is detailed
to take the dogs and go a mile or so ahead
to start the deer from the feeding ground.
The animals at once take to their accustomed
runways and are then shot by the hunters
stationed in the woods. 1t is no easy mat
ter to kill deer when it is running, for you
almost always shoot too high. When deer
is opposite to you if you whistle or make an
unusual sound their great sense of curiosity
will frequently cause them to stop and then
is the time to shoot The deer hunting sea-
son extends from October to December. Not
long ago | saw two deer shot with one shot.
One was large buck weighing fully 25O
pounds, and the other doe of probably 175
pounds, weight. They were running side by
side and the hunter was standing only few
rods from the runway"
''Do they fight when wOunded?''
''Indeed they do. Let wounded buck
get at you once and it is almost certain
death Their hoofs are as sharp as knives
and they use them as their weapons, jump
ing on and striking you with them. have
known of old and experienced hunters being
made to climb trees to get out of the way of
a wounded buck. You want to see deer
kill rattlesnake A rattlesnake cannot
strike until it is coiled up. The deer seems
to know this and when the snake is fully
coiled ready to strike, the deer will first &c
round and round the snake, keeping the snake
whirling around and suddenly draw its feet
together and springing up into the air with
a bound come down with its full weight upon
the snake, cutting it to pieces. -
THE "BUCK FEVER"
t'What is the buck fever'?''
at is a sudden trembling and loss of nerve
when a deer first comes in range. Every
one gets it at first, and even old hunters get
it, shaking and trembling as if they had the
ague. Yes, had it the first time 1 went
out. Being inexperienced 1 was placed on
the runway in out of the way spot, where
the deer was not expected to come. But as
luck would have it, the dogs drove the ami
NAL directly to where [ was. 1t was large
doe and ran up to within fifteen feet of me
and stopped and gazed at me in great curios-
ity. To say that / was excited does not half
tell the way 1 felt. I had my gun in my
IL i
not for the life of me pull the trigger.
''Have you known women to shoot deer?'
''Oh, yes 1 remember of one case of
splendid shot. The woman was in her shanty,
and heari o a noise outside looked out
There stood big buck six or seven rods
from the door. She grasped her husbands
rifle and aiming carefully killed it at the
first shot. She was very proud of her sue
cess, can tell you. Speaking of women,
this trait of curiosity in deer, one would
say, shows remarkably feminine character
istic. They will risk their lives often to
crafty it. recall that riding through the
woods just before came away three large
deer ahead Of US stopped and gazed at us
until we were within twenty feet of Them
then would run ahead and again wait for us
to catch up. They did this for long dis
lance. We had no rifles or we could easily
have killed them. Why, I've seen them SO
interested in gayly dressed lumberman that
they would let the man get almost close
enough to kill them with his ak; and in the
lumber camp at night, when the men are
singing and cutting up, the deer will often
come close up to the shahty to try to get a
look in. There is one characteristic about a
deer that few people know of-that is, their
sneaking propensity. Instead of at once
boldly taking cover when pursued they will
crouch down and sneak away. They get
easily confused, too. I have come on to a
deer suddenly and surprise has caused it to
run around in a circle of three or four rods,
diameter several times. New York Mail
and Express.
Failure of the NTerv Railway.